38 A DOCTOfl A DAY V-THE, SMALL, STR.ANGE, PE,OPLE, O NE of the best shows in New York is not open to the public, but when I was a newspaper- man they took me through Rockefel- ler Institute. This earthly paradise for doctors stands on Avenue A at Sixty-sixth Street. Sinclair Lewis gave the establishment fictional treatment in "Arrowsmith" and the hero of his novel found no peace in a Hippocratic heaven. But it seems to me that Dr. Arrowsmith must have been an excep- tion. If I were commissioned to find a thoroughly happy man I would go first to laboratories and question re- search workers. Life among the small, strange peo- ple gladdens the heart. The happiest collaboration known on earth is man and microbe. To dwell side by side with the infinitesimal creatures is to experience all the elated superiority which Gulliver felt when he lived in Lilliput. Alexander sighing for new \vorlds to conquer was idiotic. As a research worker he might have been emperor of billions. Actors are supposed to talk volubly about their jobs and it has been said that many newspaper men will expand concerning their profession if allowed I the slightest encouragement, but the men of these estates cannot keep pace with the test-tube boys. I know because they talked my ear off while I stood by abashed and not altogether com- prehending. In the beginning it seemed to me that Dr. Flexner was possibly a shade too much the ring- master. He took me into laboratories where busy men were working and called upon them to explain to me their progress and their mission. Nat- urally I felt III at ease for fear the scientists might assume that here was one who knew their language. It made no difference. Although the visitor achieved not a single intelli- gent comment or question the microbe hunters went on and on. And when he. thanked th m for their courtesy and edged toward the door they laid hands upon him and insisted that he l k up n just one more interesting gUInea pIg. "And wouldn't you like to see ma- laria?" said one of the enthusiasts as some other host might invite a guest into the rose garden. As a matter of fact, it wasn't malaria but a malady which shall be nameless. "Malaria's fight in the next room," volunteered ',\, . ' . <,. .,< "!,"" : t .,. ' , ' - ;...; : .::' :: .. , l , :: , ,:^ f \' ...... " !;"'\:/'\. t ,'. : ')f ';' =, a buxom girl assistant and led the neo- phyte forward to take his first look into kingdoms yet unknown to him. Stout Cortez stood silent upon his peak in Darien but this drafted explorer exclaimed, "Look at them wriggle." And I had not expected to find so much of personality in any bac- teria. The little fellows were per- haps as much alike as mortals viewed from Mars, but decidedly this was not inanimate life. Each mite bristled with ambition. They had their hopes and fears and visions and, given a fair chance, I felt that anyone of them would get the job. It is conventional to think of these and all their fellows as enemies of mankind, but it may be that scientists will yet discover some kinship between disease and genius. Conceivably these undulating brownies could whip the brain into its finer frenzies and mumps may come in time to constitute a short cut to self-expression. W E have all heard the curdling tales of anti-vivisection re- formers and it would be foolish for me to testify against these stories on the basis of a single swing through the booths of Rockefeller. Al1 I can . l Ay",> " ':' '," "': \:'. ,:., À aÎ " f/.\ i '\ lêi ; ':' , 1 ........ ' \ "':''<'' .,,;;;," '" ..... : j} , , ' ; t" -, " "t : . t ;, 3 "";( ':::, . ;.:. '. " .; :>. <I /1;< r /VI!./ i) DECEMDErI\ I 0, 1 2, 7 say is that I saw and heard no cruelty. The attitude of the workers toward the experimental menagerie was, I will admit, decidedly impersonal. A white rat was to them no more than a chemical compound necessary for some desired reaction. But all the mice I saw were drugged and apathetic. Blasted they were for the ills of the people and down they went to de- struction without flinching. Balto, the dog, is memorialized in bronze along with Shakespeare, Bobby Burns and all the other heroes of our park. He carried. beneficent organIsms to check an epidemic in Alaska, but he did not actually employ his own ar- teries as cylinders for the bacteria. When next you are inoculated for your own good think of the rat who died to let you live. Much of human knowledge rests upon the bleached bones of forgotten white mice. There ought to be a statue. Some rabbits I saw and a few guinea pigs, but most of the research men are mousers. The white rat is accommodating enough to be suscepti- ble to many human alIments. He fits conveniently into the hand and is so geared that many of his generations come and go within the lifetime of a laboratory worker. In one room I met a doctor who was collecting data upon epidemics. I believe pneumonia was the plague which he encouraged . \i i ,k\ ""A :" f' . \ \" z : j ': J <. "%. <.. t , x' --;",m '\... ' ' ' ' 'i , ".. :-0:-- \:, ...;,.' . _ ,"' , : ,,:;.;,: 'i;' 'MíItí, '. ... ...' ,< ,..' <: . .:" i- f-'.hi;. ' 4 ;; J' ((Good Heavens, my dear! H ere comes one of those healthy dancers."